Turkey restricts commercial vessel traffic toward Black Sea — Bloomberg
Turkey is restricting the movement of commercial vessels toward the Black Sea amid an increase in the number of attacks on ships in the region.
In a recent development, Turkey has imposed restrictions on commercial vessel traffic heading towards the Black Sea, according to Bloomberg. The measures were reported by an unnamed source citing Ukrinform. Sources familiar with the situation revealed that the Directorate General of Coastal Safety in Turkey has stopped issuing transit permits for ships headed to the Russian port of Novorossiysk, a major hub for oil and grain exports.
Additionally, processing applications to pass through the Dardanelles is reportedly taking longer than usual. Some vessels were also informed that the restrictions apply to ships bound for Ukraine. However, the Turkish authorities have not provided any explanation for this decision. When contacted for clarification, the Directorate General of Coastal Safety referred the inquiries to the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in Ankara.
As of 1:00 p.m. local time, cargo ships heading towards Bulgarian or Turkish ports continued their northward journey through the Dardanelles, as indicated by vessel-tracking data. Earlier this week, Turkey's Foreign Ministry announced that several crew members, including Turkish nationals, sustained injuries in drone attacks on two Turkish vessels.
On August 5th, a German bulk carrier, Emil, suffered significant damage in a Russian missile and drone attack in the Black Sea.
Written by urgent.news from Ukrinform - Economy's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
